You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
A<br />
“Hole”<br />
Lot of<br />
Lessons<br />
features<br />
By Dan Mezzalingua<br />
After the fifth consecutive loss by the<br />
boys varsity soccer team this past<br />
fall season, coach Don Ridall got a<br />
shovel and dug a hole at Andrews Field. The<br />
hole represented the team’s losing streak. Ridall<br />
told his players that they needed to bring<br />
Manlius Pebble Hill soccer back to where it<br />
used to be.<br />
The team became determined, and the<br />
next game beat Tyburn Academy, 4-0. The<br />
following morning, defender Nate Barton was<br />
chosen, due to his leadership in the game, to<br />
pick up a chunk of dirt and put it in the hole.<br />
The team chanted “Fill the hole!” as its<br />
journey to put <strong>MPH</strong> soccer back on the map<br />
began.<br />
The team won four out of their next seven<br />
games, qualifying for sectionals for the 39th<br />
time in school history in October.<br />
Manlius Pebble Hill is primarily known<br />
for having a strong academic program that<br />
tends to paint an image that <strong>MPH</strong>’s athletic<br />
program struggles tremendously — which is<br />
not always the case. <strong>MPH</strong> enjoys some athletic<br />
The <strong>MPH</strong> boys soccer team’s practice field, Andrews Field, is where Coach<br />
Don Ridall inspired his team to make sectionals with motivational talks.<br />
success but struggles with wins and losses due<br />
to low enrollment, limited facilities and a nocut<br />
policy.<br />
Ridall said that teams in the sports program<br />
at <strong>MPH</strong> have won more than 30 sectional<br />
championships and more than 80 league<br />
championships in the history of the program.<br />
Traditionally, <strong>MPH</strong> sports excel in the fall.<br />
This past fall, every team qualified for sectionals.<br />
The boys soccer team lost in the first<br />
round, while the girls team advanced to the<br />
second round. The girls tennis team ranked<br />
second in its league, and several players advanced<br />
to the state qualifier.<br />
In the spring, the boys golf team is also<br />
strong. Last spring, the team was 12-0 and was<br />
the Section III small school champion, and<br />
two players moved on to the state qualifying<br />
tournament.<br />
“I think one of the problems is because<br />
we’re such a highly regarded academic institution.<br />
That’s what people think of first, and<br />
20
Change language